PROPERTY DEEDS

You will want to determine the current and previous ownership of the cemetery property. You may find that the land was set off and a cemetery established on one of the early recorded deeds, but in latter deeds the cemetery is not mentioned. It is vital to have all documented transactions involving the land the cemetery is located upon.

We suggest first starting with the most recent deed/transfer/title at the appropriate courthouse & working your way back. Make copies! You may need to pull out old wills as well. These will be located in a different area of the Courthouse. In some cases they may have been relocated to an archives building.

You may discover that in some cases the cemetery may have been deeded at some point to the township in the hopes that this will protect it from development or relocation.  This may not necessarily be the case as the laws here will differ from state to state. You will need to research this point in detail. In California, for example,  counties may only legally relocate public cemeteries for specific reasons. One is because of water resources reservoir projects. The other, and only one other, is a county hospital cemetery and that is only if the need for the land occupied by the cemetery is for an equal and similar public purpose (ie institution, hospital, etc.). The site having been deeded over at some point may not sufficient to protect it from development or relocation, but it certainly could be helpful, provided the current cemetery trustee is willing to stand up to the developers. It is advised that if all possible to poll the members of the Township Board to find out what their position on the issue is.